Airports are the points of arrival and departure for passenger travel and air cargo. The passenger travel carriers include national and international airlines, regional airlines, commuter airlines and private planes and jets. Similarly, there are multiple air couriers transporting cargo via aircraft. An airport needs to effectively manage the multiple arrivals and departures for the airport facility in order to ensure passenger safety and convenience.
The management of this flow of air traffic through an airport facility requires a substantial expenditure on the part of the authority which owns or manages the airport facility. The expenditures include both airport systems (landside and airside terminals, towers, runways, maintenance, etc.) and personnel to perform the tasks associated with the operation of these systems. In order to recoup these expenditures, the airports charge the airlines for each arrival and departure. However, the airport operator needs an effective manner of tracking all the departures and arrivals in order to collect all the revenues due for the airport facility.